Epilogue
“Isn’t this a lovely surprise?” Jasper says, walking between the shadows of the room. He always stood behind me before, so to see him in front of me is daunting. What is he, seven feet tall?
I refuse to show him any signs of weakness, even if my shaking body is betraying me. I raise my chin high. I’m tired of his games and his bullshit tactics. The only thing I regret is Zayne not being here. Maybe we could have defeated him and finally freed ourselves from this torment. I wish we’d had more time, more time to be together. More time to learn how to defeat him.
I try to push back through the frequency, but the exhaustion on my physical body in our realm has made my soul exhausted here in Aetheriem. Maybe that was his plan all along, forcing me to stay here with him. To do what, though?
At this point, I do the only thing I can do: keep him talking. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that Jasper likes the sound of his own voice. Maybe this will buy some time for Zayne when he gets home? I can only hope he senses something is wrong.
So, I ask the question I have asked so many times before.
“Where is my sister, Jasper?”
“That, Myssa, is a very good question.” He stops pacing around me and stands in the moonlight, which illuminates him enough for me to see flashes of pale skin. He taps his chin as if he’s thinking. God, his arrogance is grating on my last nerve.
“Where is Myssa’s sister? Oh, that’s right,” he snaps his fingers as if he’s suddenly remembered, “not here.” He grins.
“What?” I whisper. My chest tightens, and my pulse quickens. “What the fuck do you mean, not here?” I say through gritted teeth.
“Guess you were never told that not all souls come to Aetheriem after death?”
I look at him, confused. “What the fuck are you talking about, Jasper? I know how my sister died—an accidental overdose.”
“Accidental is the keyword, Myssa. Her soul was never tarnished. It was easy, really.” He sighs, almost bored. “We used your sister as a catalyst for you to learn your craft, so that you can get here. Your soul is what I desire. Your sister was never here, and when the opportunity presented itself, all I needed was to leave some little breadcrumbs for you to follow blindly. I’ve always known you were an Original—you are the treasure I’ve been waiting for. The one soul that will give me the power to burn it all down.”
I can’t move or speak. All this time I’ve been going out of my mind, thinking he was torturing my sister, being tormented by the guilt of not being able to rescue her, and the fight to get her back was all for nothing?
For a small moment, relief hits me.
She’s not here.
She’s living in another afterlife, hopefully better than this last one. It was me he wanted all along.
“You said we?” I say, still trying to process what he’d said.
“Jonathan,” he says. “See, Jonathan was to bring you to me, and he has. Although lately, he’s been shutting me out, which is bad form on his part, and we will have to have a little chat about that. But no matter, cuz you just kept coming back for more,” he sneers.
I wish Zayne would find his way here already. I need him, as Jasper resumes his pacing, I try to call out to Zayne, hoping he can hear my pleas to get here. If Jonathan shows up, I don’t think I’ll be able to stall much longer.
“Little soul, you have been tricked this entire time,” he says, with mischievous delight.
His little pet name for me is like nails on a chalkboard. And I’m tired of these charades.
Jasper steps forward, until he’s suddenly inches away from my face, his sinister smile sending chills down my spine.
I close my eyes for just a second, trying not to let him see my adrenaline-fueled shaking as fear pumps through my veins. The back of his hand caresses my cheek, then my neck, and his sharp fingernail makes its way down to just above my breast. The piercing stab blinds me for a second as he marks me once again across my chest. I wince, feeling the blood soak my tank top.
His face is so close to my ear, and he whispers with such malice. “Let me let you in on a little secret. Your precious Zayne, your little hero, whom you think is there to protect you—dare I even say the one you love—is Jonathan.”
I take a step back, and for the first time, I look directly at Jasper, at his menacing black eyes, which hold a crimson shimmer.
“No,” I growl in disbelief.
Was it all a lie? All those feelings, the touches, the love? Was it a ploy to get me here all this time? I think back to the hesitation after our first encounter. Did Knox and Vix know? Irecall our conversation, when Knox told me about how Zayne was here when Jonathan was.
He lied to me—they all did.
The people who have meant everything to me have lied to me about it all. Was this all just to get me here? I was the joke—the punchline. I finally open up and trust someone, bare my soul, give him the love I never thought I would have, for it all to be a lie? I was the target the whole time. God, I’m so fucking stupid.
